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‘I'm in quarantine – you can’t arrest me’

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Police unable to arrest man in quarantine. Picture: Duncan Alfreds, News24
Police unable to arrest man in quarantine. Picture: Duncan Alfreds, News24

When police officers arrived this week at a Boksburg, Gauteng, man’s home to arrest him on a charge of assault, they were forced to leave empty-handed – and with red faces.

The reason? Wade Martin (35) was in quarantine.

“I was in Guatemala, in central America, and I flew back to South Africa on March 18.

“On the way there – and on the way back – we travelled via America and, because it is a high-risk coronavirus country, I had to undergo two weeks of strict self-isolation,” Martin said from behind the bars of his gate in Atlasville.

The death toll in the US this week surpassed that of China and, with more than 4 000 US citizens having already fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic, the coronavirus is now more lethal than the September 11 2001 World Trade Centre twin tower attacks in New York.

Martin, who repairs and maintains fire alarms, sprinkler systems and other fire prevention equipment, said he was in South America on business.

“We couldn’t take a direct flight on March 3, so we had a layover of six hours in Atlanta, Georgia. At that point, we barely gave the virus a thought.”

On the way back, things had changed drastically.

“We were on the last flight out of Guatemala before the country closed its borders,” said Martin.

Passengers had to spend another seven hours in Atlanta before boarding the flight to Johannesburg.

When police officers arrived this week at a Boksburg, Gauteng, man’s home to arrest him on a charge of assault, they were forced to leave empty-handed – and with red faces.

“I take my quarantine very seriously. I don’t even go to the shops or to see my family. I have a nephew with breathing problems and I can’t afford to infect him. My employees do all my grocery shopping and, when they get here, I open the gate from inside. They leave the bags at my front door.”

On Tuesday, he was inside his house when he heard his dogs barking.

“I looked at my security cameras and saw the police were at my gate. Then I called my attorney, Johan Eksteen, from BDK Attorneys in Houghton Estates,” said Martin.

Eksteen rushed to the scene.

“Johan said, ‘You stay inside, you don’t go out and you touch nothing and nobody, you are in quarantine,’ so I didn’t open the gate for the police.”

When Eksteen arrived at the house he started negotiating with the police and they left.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo

Eksteen said he was unhappy about the way the day’s events had played out.

“The assault case dates back to an incident at a wedding in February. We can’t say too much about the merits of the case before it goes to court, but I find it strange that the police allowed the complainant in the case to accompany them to my client’s house in the middle of a national emergency and a lockdown.”

City Press’ sister newspaper, Rapport, was shown screengrabs from Martin’s security cameras, which confirmed that the police were not alone.

Brigadier Vish Naidoo, police spokesperson, said it was not unusual or irregular for complainants to accompany the police to arrests.

“Sometimes it’s to identify or point out the accused and other times it’s simply to make that member of the police’s work easier,” he said.

When a member of the police was confronted with an unusual situation of this nature, they must use their judgement, he said.

“We can always go back and make an arrest if necessary,” Naidoo said.

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